CEO Fraud

CEO fraud email scams are on the rise.

CEO fraud, a new kind of corporate email security threat, has risen sharply in recent months. Also known as whale phishing, CEO fraud email scams impersonate individuals with access to financial information or other sensitive data into making wire transfers or divulging bank account numbers, credit card information, passwords and other highly valuable data via email. These CEO fraud scams often target or impersonate CEOs or CFOs, or other C-level executives.

The FBI reports that CEO fraud and whaling attack instances increased by 270% between January and August 2015, and that losses due to these scams exceeded $1.2 billion in just over two years1. As organizations seek ways to prevent CEO fraud, many companies are turning to email security solutions from Mimecast.